Ouch ^^^ Being in the saddle when the freight-train hit that Ricardo head on must have hurt.

matilda5 wrote:As of this morning proud father to Ricardo "Elite", rescued from land fil. 60cm top tube (perfect for me)tange 900 double butted. White with red tips chrome forks.Will follow up as cleaning proceeds.

Looking forward to the pics - I'm planning a red/silver makeover for my Ricardo so it would be nice to see what the original livery looked like.

I've sent him a message myself and also offered to produce the art work (if he doesn't already have it on file). If he doesn't have the artwork and takes my offer to create it, I'll need some help. My bike never had the RICARDO decals, so if anyone has high (HIGH!) resolution shots of their RICARDO stickers it would be a grand help.

I'll keep everyone posted.

EDIT: I'm also hunting some reasonably "period correct" TANGE decals for my frame - does anyone have a sample pic of an elite TANGE decal?

Thanks Munga. Two things I'm not certain of are 1) what specific tubing my bike is made from and 2) what decals tange were using at the time.

If anyone has an elite similar vintage to mine which also has the "TANGE XXXX" decals, all the answers would be revealed! Singlespeedscott & a link Nic posted to "Rustychisel bike" seem to be pretty close to mine. Since Rusty notes Champ No5 tubes, I guess it'll try get those decals.

Failing that I'll likely just go with an Infinity decal, pretty sure RICARDO's weren't cut from Prestige or Ultimate.

Thanks Munga. Two things I'm not certain of are 1) what specific tubing my bike is made from and 2) what decals tange were using at the time.

If anyone has an elite similar vintage to mine which also has the "TANGE XXXX" decals, all the answers would be revealed! Singlespeedscott & a link Nic posted to "Rustychisel bike" seem to be pretty close to mine. Since Rusty notes Champ No5 tubes, I guess it'll try get those decals.

Failing that I'll likely just go with an Infinity decal, pretty sure RICARDO's weren't cut from Prestige or Ultimate.

Mine is simply labeled ""Tange 5" with Cr-Mo seamless P.G. tubes" on the seat tube. The sticker is a light green colour with black edging. The fork blades have a sticker saying ""Tange" Cr-mo fork blades".

Thanks Single. Still no word from Cyclomondo so I think I'll try the sign writes we use here at work - see if they can print and cut some custom vinyl stickers for me.

Can anyone send me a close up of their "elite" decal? Both mine (now removed) were damage around the birds beak. I'm trying to reproduce the artwork to have them printed, but need a "complete" sticker to facsimile - marett at gmail.com

I found a Ricardo in the hard rubbish the other day. I wasn't going to take it, but the Made in Australia sticker made me look twice and then I found this thread. So I went back and picked it up. I realise now that a) it's not one of the good ones (it's Hi-Ten 1021 steel), and b) it's too big for me. It's black and in pretty poor condition. If anyone wants it (pickup in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney) let me know, otherwise I'll put it out again in the next hard rubbish.

Searching the web couldnâ€™t believe I found this forum, been a rider of these bikes since the mid eighties when I started road cycling with a race club in Brisbane. Had a Ricardo Viva for a training bike and a Elite as a race bike, both tange 900 frames, the Elite was later replaced by the road bike I still own and ride regularly a Ricardo White Lighting. A lot of the Guys I rode with had to have Italian stuff but I wanted Australian made. Pity Repco had to buy the company and sink them in the early nineties.Anyway got a bit of memorabilia from the period including a couple of sales catalogs and a sticker set. Happy to post them up if anyone is interested just got to get them from the olds on the next visit

Here is a photo of my old Race bike I got it in 1990 after the Elite got cleaned up by a car I think it cost at the time approx $1500, Tange 2 shimano frame and fork, full Shimano 600 Ultegra componentary. With original cateye vectra Speedo.

Regards

Garynote sure how to get the photo to appear so here's the link to the photo.Mod edit: Inserted the pic for you - nice bike!

Last edited by Ricardoman on Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Searching the web couldnâ€™t believe I found this forum, been a rider of these bikes since the mid eighties when I started road cycling with a race club in Brisbane. Had a Ricardo Viva for a training bike and a Elite as a race bike, both tange 900 frames, the Elite was later replaced by the road bike I still own and ride regularly a Ricardo White Lighting. A lot of the Guys I rode with had to have Italian stuff but I wanted Australian made. Pity Repco had to buy the company and sink them in the early nineties.Anyway got a bit of memorabilia from the period including a couple of sales catalogs and a sticker set. Happy to post them up if anyone is interested just got to get them from the olds on the next visit

Here is a photo of my old Race bike I got it in 1990 after the Elite got cleaned up by a car I think it cost at the time approx $1500, Tange 2 shimano frame and fork, full Shimano 600 Ultegra componentary. With original cateye vectra Speedo.

Regards

Gary

Nice! I still ride around on a Repco Superlite with biopace chainrings and downtube shifters. I have ridden over 4,000km this year and it's still going strong!

Searching the web couldnâ€™t believe I found this forum, been a rider of these bikes since the mid eighties when I started road cycling with a race club in Brisbane. Had a Ricardo Viva for a training bike and a Elite as a race bike, both tange 900 frames, the Elite was later replaced by the road bike I still own and ride regularly a Ricardo White Lighting. A lot of the Guys I rode with had to have Italian stuff but I wanted Australian made. Pity Repco had to buy the company and sink them in the early nineties.Anyway got a bit of memorabilia from the period including a couple of sales catalogs and a sticker set. Happy to post them up if anyone is interested just got to get them from the olds on the next visit

Here is a photo of my old Race bike I got it in 1990 after the Elite got cleaned up by a car I think it cost at the time approx $1500, Tange 2 shimano frame and fork, full Shimano 600 Ultegra componentary. With original cateye vectra Speedo.

Regards

Gary

Nice! I still ride around on a Repco Superlite with biopace chainrings and downtube shifters. I have ridden over 4,000km this year and it's still going strong!

Yes I remember the superlite, quite a popular bike at the time. I remember a friend had a two tone yellow and white. shimano 105 running gear if I remember.

Ricardoman wrote:Anyway got a bit of memorabilia from the period including a couple of sales catalogs and a sticker set. Happy to post them up if anyone is interested just got to get them from the olds on the next visit

G'day and welcome aboard! I'd love to see any stickers or catalogues you've got at the olds! I've finished reproducing the "elite" artwork for the bike i'm restoring. Not sure what "RICARDO" decals to base mine off tho since my frame never had them - at least not since i've known it.